Dr. Pavlos is a vengeful anti-AI roboticist. He was a former employee of the Ministry of Science, but retreated from society after Dr. Tenma and Professor Ochanomizu moved the Ministry into developing AI robots. Pavlos is played by Dr. Kiriko via the Osamu Tezuka Star System.
Origin[]
In Black Jack by Osamu Tezuka, Dr. Kiriko is a travelling euthanasia doctor. He began to practice euthanasia full time after serving as an army doctor, during which Kiriko was traumatized by the human suffering around him. He is a strong contrast to Black Jack, being much more pessimistic and defeatist.
Despite only being in eight chapters of the original manga[1], Dr. Kiriko is a fan favourite Tezuka villain. He continues to appear throughout new Black Jack media. He does not often appear via the Star System, but when he does, he plays especially deadly characters.
Personality[]
Dr. Kiriko driving alongside Black Jack in "Anorexia, The Two Dark Doctors" (1995)
In his home series, Dr. Kiriko is a morbid, brooding man. He takes himself and his career seriously, enjoying his rivalry with Black Jack to some degree. Kiriko has a reputation for being death-obsessed and creepy, which has lead some to nickname him "The Reaper's Avatar". In reality, Kiriko entered the field of euthanasia after serving time in Vietnam as a military doctor, a particularly vicious time in history. Kiriko began to question the hippocratic oath and switched careers. While he is a competent and serious doctor, Kiriko hates being one-upped or proven wrong.
As Pavlos in "Atlas Strikes Back", he is much more maniacal and dangerous. He has a persecution complex and blames others for everything that gets in his way, from engine failure to his departure from the Ministry of Science. He is strongly against AI robots and kokoro programming, and gladly develops the Nexus Chip for the sake of limiting and controlling robots.
Appearance[]
Dr. Kiriko in Black Jack 21 (2006)
Kiriko is very gaunt-looking and appears much older than he actually is. He has long, stark white hair; some art depicts him with very light platinum blonde hair. Kiriko always dresses in fine suits, long coats, and ascots.
In Black Jack, Kiriko has an eyepatch over one eye. He originally lost this eye in an accident during his term in the Vietnam War. However, Kiriko does appear with two eyes in Prime Rose and Astro Boy.
2003 series[]
Pavlos in his magician disguise
In the 2003 Astro Boy series episode "Atlas Strikes Back", Dr. Pavlos is a former Ministry of Science roboticist. When Dr. Tenma begun developing kokoro in an attempt to revive Tobio Tenma, Pavlos objected publicly to the idea of robots with advanced artificial intelligence. Tenma ignored Pavlos and moved ahead with the boy robot project. Pavlos claims he was then "forced out" of the Ministry after this objection, and that he was supposed to be the next Minister of Science, but was passed over in favour of Ochanomizu. In reality, Pavlos quit his job without advance warning and retreated from society. Yuko Kisaragi remarks that it is common knowledge around the Ministry that Pavlos simply disappeared one day.
In the present, Pavlos works from his isolated island laboratory. He created the Nexus Chip, a small counter-kokoro device, which overrides a robot's autonomy and lets a remote operator control them. Acetylene Lamp's company has invested several million dollars into Pavlos's development of the chip. When Atlas is found in space, Lamp's associate Gordon hires Pavlos to use the Nexus Chip on Atlas and Astro.
As a test, Pavlos disguises himself as a magician at a street fair that Ochanomizu, Uran, and Astro attend. Pavlos gives Uran a butterfly headband that immediately syncs with her internal programming, and makes her rampage through the street fair. Astro manages to remove the headband and Uran returns to normal. Pavlos later ruminates on how much fun he had terrorizing Ochanomizu.
Astro helps land Pavlos's ship
Later on, Pavlos operates Atlas via the Nexus Chip and makes Atlas attack Astro, Abercrombie, Kennedy, and Alejo. Dr. Pavlos also makes a taunting phone call to Ochanomizu's office, all while Astro struggles to help Atlas regain control of himself. Pavlos continues making the robot boys battle, until Dr. Tenma himself overrides the radio signal. Pavlos begins to accuse Tenma of ruining his career, until Tenma finally calmly informs Pavlos that he barely remembers who he is.
All the nearby Nexus Chips begin to explode, and as Pavlos tries to flee by airship, the explosions damage his ship's cooling system and engine. Despite everything Pavlos put them through, Astro and Atlas band together to bring Pavlos back alive. At the end of the episode, Inspector Tawashi has arrested Pavlos, who remains stunned by what Tenma told him earlier.